Porkchop Jr

If the goal is to punish poor people for being poor, then I recommend throwing them a few crumbs...just enough to subsist...so that we may continue to complain about what a drag on society they are. I am convinced that there are many citizens who actually prefer this approach.

By "poor" are you talking about those who make less than $250k/yr? Admittedly, I have quite a few friends who think this way. Yeah they might be douches, but what can ya do?

You could make it more interesting by explaining why you support Obama. I understand that you apparently don't think the president should get chilly in the grocery store, but that seems like a rather scurrilous reason for your vote.

Please don't just say, "Obama is not Bush/a neocon/mean" or just use the words "hope" and "change". I could say the same things about McCain, but that's not why I am voting for him.

What POLICIES of Obama's do you support and why? Be specific.

I would be happy to respond in kind and perhaps this wouldn't be so boring, no?

PMJI. It's not only Obama's policies (many of which are largely swayed by the party he represents anyway), but more so the temperament of his character. He's not a hot-head. He's not a loose cannon. But let's take a look at why I'm NOT voting for his opponent.

I wonder what life would be like today if McCain were president during the Cuban missile crisis, with all the hawks screaming "Invade now!", unaware of the island's tactical nukes. Thankfully, a cool JFK was instead on watch. And I wonder about the Korean War, when MacArthur wanted to chase the Chinese into China with nuclear weapons. Imagine if Dubya were president then, a man unable to control his hawks. Fortunately, a much stronger executive had a handle on his brilliant yet narrow minded "maverick", and we did not end up in a much larger conflict.

I don't fault McCain for voting to attack Iraq. Attack is what hawks do. Avoiding war in the first place is a (competent) president's job, and something that Obama clearly would have done, of course. Unfortunately, we had a weak executive at the time and the hawks flew the coup. I don't fault Obama for voting against the surge. He is not a military man, and would be no more good at advising the nuts and bolts of conflict than a hawk like McCain could in avoiding such conflict in the first place. I expect the executive to keep us out, like Obama would have, not run the ground war.

McCain said in the debates that he would fight in Iraq for the honor of those service persons who have died there, so their deaths were not in vain. This is typical hawkish simpleton black and white view that can only see the end of his beak and not the larger picture or even why we fight. McCain is wrong. There is no way to die in vain in service to the USA. Military action sends a clear message to anyone wanting to steal America's freedom to think again, regardless of the overall military success of the conflict. McCain's doctrine of no deaths unavenged is nonsense, otherwise we would reinvade the Korean peninsula and reengage in Indochina. McCain just doesn't get it. Only a McCain, or perhaps a Klingon, could possibly think its possible to die in vain in service to your country. This doctrine of his is a recipe for future, more protracted wars.

John McCain's impulsive, simplistic manor was on full display during the debates, with the simpleton cure to spending to just freeze it and veto everything. Thats a laser-beam narrow minded hawk focus for you, devoid of the bigger picture. Obama wants measured cuts based upon our morals and needs. A McCain weight loss program would be a feeding freeze; an Obama plan a healthy diet and exercise.

Also in-line with his narrow, laser beam, simpleton view is that of Americans in general, across all classes. He believes only the top 5% can create jobs, and tax cuts to these people will take care of the apparently unwashed 95% of Americans. This is an ancient, worn out, failed notion. Those 5% at one time were among the 95%. A break for the middle class would engage a huge number of Americans, innovative, creative Americans, not to mention increase consumer spending.

McCain also wants to put us on a collision course with Russia by rushing former satellites into NATO ASAP. This is reckless; all things have their moment an now is not the moment to be pushing the Russians further. Hawks, by their nature, always think the time is NOW, just like McCain running off to Washington. That was no political stunt; that was John McCain. Hardly cool, executive material.

McCain said throughout the debates that Obama just didn't understand. Its the other way around. McCain believes we are not fostering a second cold war through our incompetent foreign policy. But then again, this is a man that didn't even see the train wreck of the economy burning in front of him.

Hawks like McCain, seeing only the target immediately in front of them, see only the small picture, usually in cross hairs. That's what makes a great military man, a great warrior, and we need such magnificent individuals to carry out the will of the executive. But we do not need such individual as the executive.

Thank you all VERY much for your replies! I will research these locations now.

Can anybody recommend a decent loft on a students budget? I would like to purchase rather than lease. I really LOVE the Waterway lofts in the Woodlands but I definitely can't afford even the most inexpensive unit right now. I guess my budget is right at about 150k. I searched online but the only lofts I found were way out of my range. Maybe a townhome would work out better?